Past and Present
by CosmicSyzygy
Summary: The Doctor meets a young boy who is running away from home and discovers more of himself in this boy than he would like to remember.


A small boy ran down the gravel path, a backpack that still seemed altogether too large for his body thrown haplessly over his shoulders. The red scarf he was loosely wearing around his neck became caught on a post as he ran past it. He let it simply fall off, not even looking back to see how its threads had become tangled around a stray grey nail. He was crying far too much to notice much of anything as it happened. He didn't care that it had begun to snow. He didn't think twice at the fact that the temperatures were beginning to drop rapidly as the grey sky faded into darker and darker hues of grey. His only thoughts were that he wanted to run away. Far away. He never wanted to return home again. He didn't care where he was going, because wherever it is, it has to be better than where he was running away from.

The gravel path quickly disappeared from under his feet, however. The fences directing his way had also gone. The only thing left was the crunch-crunching of the fine white snow underneath his feet. The horizon to which he was headed toward was a grayish white, accented by a small grouping of dark and skeleton-bare spindly trees. At the sight, he let out a small shudder. Whether it was the coldness or the trees that had left him like that, he didn't know. Once he finally reached them, he found himself to be thoroughly worn out from the running. The tears that had before run hotly down his cheeks were now threatening to turn to ice. He went to wipe his face, but his scarf was nowhere to be found. So instead he sat at the roots of one of the tortured skeleton trees, burying his face in his coat. He felt like crying some more, but his eyes stung. Perhaps he should have thought this through better. Night was fast approaching and he knew nothing of how to survive outside, let alone in the midst of the harshness of winter.

But then he thought about home he was running from. Surely if his mother knew what he was doing, she'd be very cross. She would give him a good yelling-at for causing so many problems for her and everyone else, and then send him to his room for the rest of the evening. But she just didn't understand how very unhappy he was. He didn't want to go home.

Still, he knew that if he stayed outside for much longer, he would freeze. He let out a misty breath into the air as he put his head back up again. He had to move. Yet as he began to stand up, he noticed a dark figure moving across the snowy hills, coming directly his way. At first, he wondered if it might be his mother coming to drag him away by his ear, but as it came closer and closer, he realised it was far too tall to be her. Also, she probably hadn't even noticed he was gone yet. No, this figure was something completely different altogether. It was human… or was it? He sat back down, hoping to blend into the darkness now falling, yet he was still quite curious. Who would be all the way out here right now?

As the person came into clearer view, he began to properly see that it was a man, tall and fluffy. He had on a large fur coat, which explained the fluffiness, and a funny sort of hat that he'd only seen before in his Sherlock Holmes books. The small boy giggled slightly at the sight of such an odd man. But then the man stopped dead in his tracks. The boy covered his mouth, suddenly terrified that he had heard him. He didn't know this man. He didn't know if he was good or bad. He didn't know if he should hide or try to talk to him. He was taught not to talk to strangers. Also, what if the man were to take him back home? Or worse… to the police station.

He froze against the ancient emaciated tree trunk. He tried to stifle his breath. And then he heard a voice call out to him.

"Is somebody there?" the voice asked curiously. The boy didn't answer. He felt his heart pumping against his chest. A moment of silence followed. And then,

"I know there's somebody there. It's quite all right to come out! I won't hurt you!"

The boy's held breath gave out, and he tried to suck in another quick breath. He started to hear a high-pitched noise, starting from where the man stood and then winding around through the trees, closer to where he sat with each second. This was it.

From around the corner of the tree came a strange green light attached to a stick, attached a hand that is attached to the funny man in the fur coat. He smiled.

"Hello there!"

The boy gazed back at him, half in surprise, half in quickly escalating curiosity. The man stuck out his hand for him to shake it.

"I'm the Doctor!" exclaimed the odd man with a wild grin on his face.

The boy looked at his hand, still a bit uncomprehending.

"Oh, you shake it!" said the Doctor. "At least that's how I believe it's done. Never quite understood the reason why… Bit silly. But still!"

The boy smiled a tiny bit now, slowly coming to the realisation that this man probably wasn't going to hurt him. He held out his hand timidly and the Doctor enthusiastically shook it back.

"Very nice to meet you! Do you happen to have a name, perchance? Might be a bit easier for me to chat with you if I know it! Although, I must admit, I'm not very good at remembering names. Or was that one of my past selves?" The Doctor scratched his chin thoughtfully, and then looked back at the boy.

"Michael," the boy replied softly.

"Ah, Michael! A very good name to have. It also rhymes with bicycle! Well, mostly."

Michael softly chuckled at this and the Doctor grinned warmly. He also now noticed that the Doctor held in his hands a white bag with the logo of a local bakery on it. He could've sworn he smelled a hint of something sweet and sugary in the air as a chilled gust began to rustle threateningly through the trees, blowing everything in its path about. Both the Doctor and Michael shivered in that moment.

"Say Michael, any particular reason why you're out here? I don't mean to pry, but this is a bit out of town, and I wouldn't think that right now is a good time to be out in the elements." Michael looked down at his shoes.

"I ran away..."

"Ran away? From home?" The Doctor raised an eyebrow. Michael nodded.

"Any particular reason for it?"

Michael shrugged, still looking down at his shoes.

"Hm…" the Doctor vocalised as he looked around again at the scene around them. "Well considering it's not exactly hospitable out here at the moment, how would you like to come along with me and keep me company for a little bit?" Michael looked up at him, suddenly feeling a bit more hopeful. And then a realisation hit him.

"But you're a stranger."

"Yes, I suppose there is that. Very smart on your part take notice of that, Michael," said the Doctor was he stroked his chin, thinking. "Although I'm also a strange stranger, aren't I?"

A look of confusion crossed Michael's face. "Yes?" he replied.

"Now see, right there! It's a double negative, so therefore it's just cancelled itself out entirely!" the Doctor spouted excitedly, and then caught himself and continued, "But of course, that logic only applies to me because I am the Doctor. In any other instance, talking to strangers is definitely a very bad idea indeed!" He found himself wagging his finger aimlessly, then looked directly at it to make it stop.

"So how about it?" Looking at the small boy of probably about 7 or 8 years old, he knew that he couldn't simply leave him out here alone in the cold. The part of him that had once been a father felt great concern, and he hoped that the boy would somehow go along with his twisted logic.

Michael looked into his eyes with an innocent spirit. "Well… okay."

The Doctor smiled, extending his hand to help Michael onto his feet, relief beating a warmth in his two alien hearts.

"My home isn't very far from here. Parked it just on the other side of these trees."

"Parked it?" Michael replied curiously. Surely he would've noticed a caravan through these thin trees.

"Yes. You'll see! Perhaps we could have some nice hot cocoa and sweet desserty things that will surely rot our teeth!" The Doctor holds up the white bakery bag. "And then we could chat a bit before I take you home!" Michael stopped in his tracks.

"I'm not going home," he said adamantly. The Doctor turned back to look at him. They were nearly to the TARDIS. He couldn't argue with him now.

"Right. Well, still have a chat with me anyway. Then you can be off to wherever you were headed before I came along." A chill pierced through the air in that moment and Michael looked at him, thinking. Then he decided to continue to walk again, following the Doctor's lead.

A few minutes later, after trudging through the rapidly growing snowdrifts, they happened upon a large blue box sitting in the middle of a thicket of dead brush and trees. Was this what the Doctor was talking about? Michael wondered. It seemed a bit small, but perhaps it was warm and cosy inside. The Doctor reached into one of his large furry pockets and pulled out a silvery key to unlock one of the double doors. He noticed as the Doctor was unlocking it that the snow around the edges of the bottom of the blue box had somehow melted completely. It must be really warm in there! He felt an excitement begin to rush through him, which only grew once the doors were thrown open before him.

"Home sweet home!" the Doctor exclaimed, leading him into a room that looked far too large to be inside of such a small wooden box. He gazed around the shining room, completely in awe, walking over to the console to run his hands over the exquisite controls. He even heard a slight background hum coming from within that almost sounded sort of… happy.

"So it's not made of wood, huh?!" he smiled, looking back up at the Doctor. In response, the Doctor grew a crooked smile on his face, chuckling.

"No, it's not," the Doctor replied.

"Is this like another dimension or something?"

The Doctor furrowed his eyebrows. "You already knew!"

Michael giggled. "No, not really. I just guessed, I suppose."

"You _guessed_?!"

"Yeah. I like to read, especially science fiction books! I've taken out all sorts from my school's library." He looks over the railing at the level below. "And this sure looks like another dimension if I've ever seen one!" he announced, feeling all at once very smart and pleased with himself.

The Doctor wore yet another crooked smile on his face now, seeming very impressed and pleasantly bewildered at the same time. "Yes, well… How about that hot chocolate?"


End file.
